Liam Tancock dominates Men’s 50m back-stroke semi-finals: Day seven – FINA World Championships
Liam Tancock earned the top qualification spot in the final of Men’s 50m back-stroke meet by dominating the semi-final of the 50m event on day seven of the 2011 Federation Internationale de Natation (FINA) organised World Championships on Saturday, July 30, in Shanghai, China.
With his fastest qualification time, Tancock remained the most powerful swimmer in the single-lap swim, as he posted a scintillating time of 24.62 seconds in the semi-finals. Tancock, who is the championship and world record holder of the same event, stayed 0.58 seconds behind his own world mark of 24.04 seconds, which he set at the 2009 Rome World Championships.
He was followed by Camille Lacourt of France, who stayed 0.23 seconds behind Tancock and qualified as the second fastest swimmer into the final rounds, after he touched the finishing wall with a timing of 24.85 seconds. Lacourt was followed by Gerhard Zandberg of South Africa, who entered the final as the third fastest swimmer, as he remained 0.06 seconds behind his preceding finisher and submitted a time of 24.91 seconds.
Aschwin Wildeboer Faber of Spain was the fourth finest swimmer to enter the final round, as he was just 0.08 seconds behind his foregoing competitor and reported on the finishing wall in a time of 24.99 seconds. In the meantime, the arena witnessed the gruelling swims of two American swimmers, Nicholas Thoman and David Plummer, who failed to overwhelm each other’s efforts and surfaced on the finishing wall in a same time of 25.03 seconds for the fifth qualification spot.
Flori Lang of Switzerland was the seventh finest swimmer to enter the final round, as he stayed 0.04 seconds behind the duo of joint finishers and ended his swim in a time of 25.07 seconds. He was followed by Guy Barnea of Israel, who stayed 0.02 seconds behind Lang and entered the finals as he touched the finishing wall with an eighth fastest time of 25.09 seconds.
The session concluded after the wonderful swims of all participants, while these finalists will compete with each other in the final round of the second session, where winners will be awarded a podium finish.
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